Genre constraints can’t box in Joshua Baraka on Growing Pains. Hailing from Uganda, the rapid increase in the singer-songwriter’s popularity relies on his clean R&B vocals which play lightly over feel-good beats, bringing maximum levity to even the most soul-searching tracks. Baraka lays out his journey to global recognition from the opener—“Never thought that my life would change/Didn’t think I’d make my mama proud,” he sings in the first verse of “Shine”—to the penultimate track, “Dreams”, an atmospheric midtempo that swells with stacked harmonies for the choral hook: “Small town hero/It’s been a long way from zero”. Sandwiched between are songs which bounce with Afro-fusion influence, including the sultry, lovelorn “Ninda” and collaborations with Nigeria’s breakthrough talent Magixx plus Ghanaian hip-hop star Yaw Tog—who appear on “No Lie” and “Moonlight” respectively. Rounding out with the star-studded remix of hit single, “Nana”, Baraka brings Growing Pains to an exuberant ending, fitting for a larger-than-life artist getting comfortable with his own evolution.